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You can modify your vehicle with a number of braces, including fender braces, under body braces, and suspension member braces. A strut bar is another add-on car owners often add for their street performance vehicle. Do strut bars increase performance, and if so, how?

How Strut Bars Work

A strut bar is simply a metal rod that connects the left and right strut towers. Supposedly, making this connection reduces chassis flex by reinforcing the frame. The chassis flexes during tight turns, which causes a delayed steering response and reduced cornering ability. For those that race their cars on racetracks, chassis flex is a major problem that affects lap time. A strut bar nullifies this issue to some degree, hence their demand at auto service stations.

Does a Strut Bar Actually Work?

People have debated on auto forums whether strut bars really improve performance. We believe that they don’t actually enhance cornering speed. Rather, they contribute to your ability to handle the vehicle in a sharp turn. This means the car will feel more stable to you and enhance your ability to manage the controls. When a chassis is too loose, the vehicle may feel lacking in grip.

Do You Need One?

We believe strut bars are a useful addition if you routinely race your car on the tracks. However, multiple factors, such as what the bar is made from, how it’s installed, and your own handling ability all determine whether the bar is of any value.

We Install Strut Bars for Performance Cars

Stop by NW Performance and Off Road if you want to avail yourself of every possible advantage on the race tracks. Our auto repair service can make modifications to help your vehicle achieve peak performance. Strut bars may help performance if you’re trying to shave off fractions of a second in your lap time.

These guy are amazing. My husband and I JUST left their shop and I had to immediately give a review. The time and effort they took to install our lift on our 4runner, was unparalleled to any other shop. We will be loyal customers and would recommend them 100% to anyone. We are very satisfied customers. It is hard to find people who are as meticulous as Jason. He has earned our trust and we could not be any happier with his work.

Cody

5 out of 5 stars

posted 2 months ago

I never write reviews. I'm writing this review for people, like myself, who over analyze everything. My hope is to convince you to just get your car in front of Jason. He'll look at it for no cost, be thorough, explain his thinking and educate you in the process. That's what we ALL want- give us a quick, transparent, knowledgeable session on what's wrong-what are my options and costs to fix it. Long story short, after my accident my insurance wouldn't pay for the awful steering grinding/vibrations that followed mechanically after the body was restored. I take care of my truck, I do minor maintenance(oil, spark plugs, brakes) and work on it often(almost entirely blacked out). I did a total PS flush(twice) and narrowed the diagnosis down to a bad steering pump, bad steering lines, steering shaft and/or rack/pinion replacement. Jason quickly put my truck on his lift and discussed the possible reasons and options to remedy the excessive shuddering. He ruled out the rack and pinion, which I mentioned and HE could of easily included this, but didn't.
This was the largest portion of my calculated costs (total quote from another mechanic $2k). My plan was to do the work myself if the price was too high again. This still would of been $800 in parts. I ended up paying way less than that, getting my truck back same-day. He also fixed my sunroof and checked my upper/lower ball joints and gave me the OK. Jason also installed a 2.5 leveling kit from MotoFab and the truck runs and looks like she's brand new. These guys are YOUR guys. Just bring it to them. Look, if you read the entirety of this lengthy novel review, you're almost there... Just do it.

lance Shaw

5 out of 5 stars

posted 1 month ago

Took my TJ in for a regear and air lockers since they quoted me $1200 less than the well known ring and pinion shop in town. That quote from the other ring and pinion shop did not include a compressor, plumbing the airlines or mounting the switches. Scott said Northwest offroad likes to do a great job and finish what they start. On top of saving $1200 on the price of the 4.56 regear and 2 locker installations , extra work plumbing airlines and wiring/mounting switches, and the compressor that northwest performance offroad threw into the deal they also noticed my breaks where worn and replaced them no charge. They adjusted my long arm lift, after installing myself I had the axels a few degrees off from where they needed to be. They put me on the road ready to hit the mountains the next day with no worries and $1200 saved in my pocket for more jeep parts. Scott and his guys are the only shop I have ever been to that gave me far more than I feel I paid for. Don't go to the other shops that give you the lest possible for your $. Take your jeep, car or truck to Scott and he will set you up and make your hard earned money go much farther. I just can't say enough for these guys. I don't like decals on my jeep but I will sport theirs.